Corning's Gorilla Glass, a 1960s invention just waiting for the right time, saw its first quarter sales surge 50 percent sequentially. Now Corning is working to expand the super-strong glass to new markets.

That heady growth indicates that Gorilla Glass is becoming the glass technology cover for a wide range of devices---smartphones, tablets and TVs today.

On its first quarter earnings conference call, Jim Flaws, chief financial officer of Corning, said Gorilla Glass sales were about $150 million in the first quarter.

Flaws added:

We continue to believe Gorilla Glass sales could approach $1 billion this year. In fact, since we launched Gorilla sales -- Gorilla Glass four years ago, the first quarter has represented about 15% of the full-year demand. So we feel we are on track with our sales goals.

However, Corning indicated that it didn't plan on stopping at the $1 billion sales mark for Gorilla Glass. Flaws added:

We continue to make progress extending Gorilla Glass into new markets, including an exciting collaboration with Hyundai on a futuristic concept car. In addition, a major architectural firm announced Gorilla Glass is designed into a prototype prefab apartment unit. The firm exhibited Gorilla Glass just last week at an industry show in Seattle.

Flaws said that Corning isn't expecting much from architecture and automotive for Gorilla Glass sales. Most of immediate future sales growth rides with smartphones and TVs.

Overall, Corning reported first quarter earnings of $748 million, or 47 cents a share, on revenue of $1.92 billion.

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